ABOUT US

Association of faithfuls
Via delle Fornaci 200 – 00165 ROMA

Association members:
[Date of appointment | Certificate number | Date of initiation | Date of termination]

President:
P. Roman CZUDEK
[12/11/2019 | 1813/15 | 12/11/2019 | 11/11/2024 ]
Members:
Mons. František KOUTNÝ
[12/11/2019 | 1813/15 | 12/11/2019 | 11/11/2024 ]
P. Damián Jiří ŠKODA
[12/11/2019 | 1813/15 | 12/11/2019 | 11/11/2024 ]
P. Jaromír ZÁDRAPA
[12/11/2019 | 1813/15 | 12/11/2019 | 11/11/2024 ]
P. Tomáš ROULE
[12/11/2019 | 1813/15 | 12/11/2019 | 11/11/2024 ]

The spiritual and cultural center for pilgrims – „Center Velehrad“ is a part of association of the Czech Religious Center Velehrad that has its seat in the house. Our vision comes from original intentions of Josef Cardinal Beran and his desire to help the Church in the home country and also the pilgrims in Rome. We create for pilgrims the place where they can be encouraged in their faith and experience the community in faith; we guide them on the holy places to enable them to discover the treasure of faith through the beauty of the holy places.

The statutes of the Czech Religious Center were officially approved by the Holy See on Saint Wenceslas Day 28th September 1968. In statutes that wrote Cardinal Beran himself it is possible to see his intention: „To give spiritual assistance to Czech Catholics living outside the home country to not lose the national identity and precious treasure of catholic faith, and to support the Catholics living in home country.“ For this purpose the Cardinal founded the place that would be „the home“ and „the atelier“ at the same time. Place, where it works and lives, where looks for and realize initiatives that better meet the requirements of nowadays and the needs of people.

The Salesians were in charge of the center for almost fifty years. The community of sisters from the Society of Sisters of Jesus has been working at the Center since 2016 and the director is a Czech priest appointed by the Czech Bishops’ Conference. In 2011–2020, the Velehrad Center carried out a general reconstruction of all three buildings. Today it can offer accommodation to 62 guests in 32 rooms.
In 2019, 2,324 guests used the services of the house. Most – 1264 were from the Czech Republic, 838 from Slovakia. 43 Poles, 45 Germans, 23 Italians and 30 Portuguese also used the services of the house.
Our guests were also people from Canada, the United States, Croatia, bishops from Asia and Africa.

In fidelity to these motivations for evangelization, the center provides support to visitors to Rome, whether individuals, parish groups, Catholic associations and movements, young people and families.
The pilgrimage house offers accommodation to guests mainly from the Czech and Slovak Republics, but is also open to visitors from all over the world. It wants not only to be a safe base for pilgrims, to whom it provides shelter and food.
After fifty years of atheistic education, he also strives to actively participate in the evangelization and spiritual formation of guests. Here they meet in a non-binding environment with church activities and have the opportunity to ask various questions about the faith and the church. We also offer guests the opportunity to compile their program together and also guide services. For many of them, meeting Pope Francis during general audiences or the liturgy is an extraordinary life experience.